A UK Lifestyle Blog

Monthly Archives: March 2017

At the beginning of 2017 I set myself 4 goals to achieve. Since we’re in March already, and we’re a quarter of the way through the year I thought it was time to do an update.

The first goal was to take charge of my health. I’d started this towards the end of 2016 so it was natural to keep it going in 2017. I’m preparing fresh and healthy lunches as well as watching what I eat in the evenings. I’ve also started trying to exercise twice a week, although I’m not always making twice but I have lost over a stone which I’m pleased about.

As part of trying to be healthier I’m doing more walking and have started Couch to 5K. I want to be able to complete a parkrun. I’m not bothered about running all of it just yet but would like to complete it in under an hour. Even if it’s 59:59! I’m using the medals I’m earning through Virtual Runner UK to keep me in check and motivate me to keep trying.

I started off really well with this goal. I read three books quite quickly but then haven’t read anything for a while. I need to get back in to this. I have however been listening to audio books. My husband doesn’t enjoy reading but wants to read the Harry Potter books so we’ve downloaded them and have been listening to them. We’re currently on the second book.

I’m actually surprised how easy I’ve found this one. I was dreading learning how to say no to people but actually I’ve been true to myself and have turned down social opportunities I’m just not interested in.

So that’s my 2017 goals update. I hope everyone else is managing to stay on track with their personal goals.

In February I took part in the To the Moon and Back medal challenge from Virtual Runner UK. They wanted to see if the participants could complete enough mileage, you guessed it, to reach to the moon and back!

I really must learn to take more pictures when I’m out and about as it makes blog posts far more exciting! I completed 16.14 miles made up of running, walking and cycling. I ran a mile, walked 7.07 miles and cycled 8.07 miles! I have no idea how I managed a 50/50 split, it certainly wasn’t intentional! All the cycling was completed on my exercise bike and the walking was a mix of treadmill and out and about.

These pictures were taken at Lymington Harbour where I walked just under a mile.

The only other pictures I took didn’t turn out too good at all. However, here is a picture of the medal. I really like it, the way the heart hangs is a neat idea and the lanyard is a night sky.

I love these medals and they’re really helping me to stick to my 2017 goal of taking charge of my health. I don’t have another medal until June now, so it’ll be interesting to see just how well I manage to keep going without the incentive of receiving a medal at the end!

4th March saw my 80th time volunteering at Lee on the Solent parkrun. 80 times is pretty impressive, especially when I realised there’s only been 90 parkruns at Lee on the Solent.

I wanted to be the Run Director on my 80th time and so I signed up. Now all I needed was a team! I put a call out on Facebook saying it would be my 80th time volunteering and I was to be the Run Director so wanted the best team and luckily my wonderful parkrun friends responded and I had a good team backing me.

During my 80 times volunteering at parkrun I’ve made so many friends and since I only moved here two years ago I’m so thankful for their friendship. Moving here could have been a very lonely time and actually it really hasn’t.

I’ve met so many people through parkrun, some are simply familiar faces I see through being there every week, some are people I say Hi to as I pass them on the High Street but some of them are people I spend time with outside of parkrun too now.

No finer photo location than a skate park covered in graffiti

I’m so grateful for all the people I’ve met at parkrun and I want to thank everyone who made Saturday so special for me.

So I have some news, I’m involved in setting up a Junior parkrun! This is such an exciting time. Last time when I went to volunteer at Waterlooville Junior parkrun which is detailed in this post it was still in the “can we do this” stages. However, we now have funding from the council and it very much has been given the green light!

At the end of February we went over to Eastney Junior parkrun in Portsmouth where I volunteered as a barcode scanner for them. We introduced ourselves to their event director Denyse who was very friendly and helpful. She showed us some of the kit they use, including a rather nifty trolley to carry it all in.

My good friend Maggie, and her husband Paul are going to be the Event Directors of our new Junior parkrun and we’ve set about creating an amazing team. Two of our RD’s to be joined us at Eastney so they could see what the events were like too.

I present the new Junior parkrun team

The event was really good, and well organised. It was bigger than Waterlooville with 68 runners. The fastest boy finished in a rather impressive 08:19 and the fastest girl finished in 08:42. We were all amazed at how speedy the children were. The location was brilliant too. It was held in Bransbury Park in Portsmouth. There are some good facilities in the park and I imagine in the summer the children and parents spend some time in there after parkrun too.

If you want to check out Eastney Junior parkrun then they run every Sunday morning at 10am at Bransbury Park. There is a car park at the opposite end of the park (it’s not too long a walk from the start) or there is on street parking closer by.

Another month in 2017 over already. February seems to have gone by in a bit of a blur! So what did I get up to?

At the beginning of February I went with some friends to the new Watermark at West Quay shopping centre in Southampton. We went to Cosmo, which was my recommendation having already visited the restaurant in Sheffield. Thankfully it lived up to my expectations and we had some lovely food as well as a good catch up. When we got there they had decorated with red lanterns for Chinese New Year.

One Sunday afternoon we went for a drive out in to the New Forest and ended up in Lymington. We found the harbour and went for a walk around. It was lovely, and very quiet as it was so chilly. Afterwards we went to Milford on Sea which seems to be the closest point on the mainland that you can get to the Isle of Wight. The waves were huge so naturally I took a picture (which really doesn’t do the waves justice) but you can see the Isle of Wight in the background and also The Needles. One day I’ll get myself over to the Isle of Wight and explore!

Another Sunday afternoon we went for a drive out to Southsea. As we drove along from Southsea to Eastney we saw these beach huts and I had to get out and take a picture. They look a little dishevelled, like the Winter hasn’t treat them well. I’m sure they’ll look splendid in the Summer. I love the colours.